The Tale of the Three Brothers
|latest= |last= }} The Tale of the Three Brothers was a fairy tale often told to wizard children. Believed to be written by Beedle the Bard, it was published as part of a collection of his works called . While most wizards viewed this story as one that teaches children morals, such as humility and wisdom, others believed that the story refers to the Deathly Hallows, three highly powerful magical artefacts coveted by generations of wizards. Many also believed that the three Peverell brothers were the inspiration for the story and that they first obtained the artefacts known as the Hallows. Anyone who manages to possess all three hallows was said to be a Master of Death. Story Three brothers, travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight reached a deep treacherous river where anyone who attempted to swim or wade would drown. Learned in the magical arts, the brothers conjured a bridge with their wands and proceed to cross. Halfway though the bridge, a hooded figure stood before them. The figure was the enraged spirit of Death, cheated of his due. Death cunningly pretended to congratulate them and proceeds to award them with gifts of their own choosing. The eldest brother, a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence. Death granted his wish by fashioning the Elder Wand from a branch of a nearby elder tree standing on the banks of the river. The second brother, an arrogant man, chose to further humiliate death, and asked for the power to recall the deceased from the grave. Death granted his wish by crafting the Resurrection Stone from a stone picked from the riverbank. The third and youngest brother, who was the most humble and wise, did not trust Death and asked for something to enable him to go forth without Death being able to follow. A reluctant Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Invisibility cloak. The three brothers took their prizes and soon went on their separate ways. The eldest brother travelled to a village where a wizard whom he had quarrelled lived. He sought out a duel and fought the wizard using the wand, instantly killing the latter. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the eldest brother walked to an inn not far from the duelling site and spent the night there. Taken by his conscience and lust of the Elder Wand's power, the eldest brother boasted of this wand gifted by Death and his own invincibility. That very night, Death transfigured to a murderous wizard. The unknown murderous wizard crept to the inn as the eldest brother slept, drunk from wine. The wizard slit the oldest brother’s throat for good measure and stole the wand. That was when Death took the first brother. The second brother returned to his home where he lived alone. Turning the stone thrice in his hand the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him, much to his delight. Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally, the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, committed suicide by hanging from his house' balcony so as truly to join her. That was when Death took the second brother for his own. Death searched for the youngest brother as years passed but never succeeded. It was only when the third brother reached a great age, he took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. Greeting Death as an old friend, they departed this life as equals. The Deathly Hallows The three objects mentioned during the tale are believed by some to be the Deathly Hallows, the most powerful magical objects of their kind in existence. The Elder Wand is the unbeatable wand of the oldest brother, the Resurrection Stone is the stone given to the second brother that can bring back the dead, and the Cloak of Invisibility is the cloak given to the third brother that could hide the wearer even from Death. It is believed that whoever succeeds in uniting all three of the Hallows would become the Master of Death. Xenophilius Lovegood, Gellert Grindelwald, and Albus Dumbledore were among those who believed in the existence of the Hallows and sought to reunite them. The Fate of the Hallows The eponymous three brothers are believed to have been modelled after three actual wizard brothers born somewhere around the British wizarding village of Godric's Hollow during early 13th century: Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell. Antioch was the oldest brother, who likely crafted as well as possessed the Elder Wand that was passed down not by inheritance but through combat. It became the property of whoever won it from its previous master and held a long and bloody history until it came into the hands of Albus Dumbledore, who sought to change its infamous reputation and use it for the good of others. After his death, the wand came into the possession of Lord Voldemort, though he could never win its full allegiance and upon his defeat by Harry Potter, the Elder wand was returned to Dumbledore’s tomb. Cadmus was the second brother, who likely crafted and possessed the Resurrection Stone, which passed down through his descendants until it came into the Gaunt family, who placed it within their signet ring. Marvolo Gaunt was known to have possession of it, until it changed hands to his son Morfin Gaunt, and then to his grandson Tom Riddle, who transformed it into a Horcrux and hid it away under the floorboards of the Gaunt Shack in Little Hangleton, placing a powerful curse on it as protection. The ring was ultimately discovered by Albus Dumbledore, who contained the curse in his hand with help from Severus Snape, whilst the stone was bequeathed to Harry Potter, who intentionally lost it in the Forbidden Forest. Ignotus was the youngest brother, who likely crafted and possessed the Cloak of Invisibility. This Cloak was passed down initially through his male descendants, but entered the Potter family after the marriage of his granddaughter Iolanthe Peverell to Hardwin Potter, and was eventually given to James Potter. Before James died, Albus Dumbledore had asked to see the Cloak, and still had possession of it until he passed it to Harry Potter on Christmas Day during Harry's first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and remained in his possession throughout the Second Wizarding War. Media This three minute animated sequence has been created by Framestore, directed by Ben Hibon and supervised by Dale Newton.Framestore: Deathly Hallows Animation by Ian Failes on fxtuide.com Behind the scenes *In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 , the scene where Hermione Granger reads this story is replaced with an animated shadow-play sequence which Hermione narrates. It was the first and only time a fully animated scene was used in all 8 movies. *In The 50 greatest Harry Potter moments documentary, Emma Watson said that she found the narration difficult to do because her lines had to be right with the animation. *The scene in the video game is the same as that in the movie, but the figures in the shadow play are interpreted differently - the characters have more flesh, and death is represented by a skeleton. *The story itself also may have been based off the fairy tale, "Three Billy Goats Gruff", in which the characters were depicted as animals who managed to systematically outsmart the danger that lurked beneath the bridge, a troll, by exploiting its inherent stupidity. The only difference is, while the goats managed to avert the danger by cooperating as one, the Peverells took down their own path of life. It also takes some inspiration from the "Three Little Pigs", where it depicts what happened afterwards upon the siblings after what happened on the encounter over the bridge and how they fared after it. *According to J. K. Rowling, The Tale of the Three Brothers is loosely based on Geoffrey Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale.http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0730-bloomsbury-chat.html *It is possible that this story's moral is that "one will meet their demise untimely if it was for extreme greed", as the power-hungry Antioch Peverell asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence and he was the first to die. Cadmus was also greedy but not as much as Antioch, he was the second brother to die. But the youngest brother who was a humble man asked for a thing that he could use to live a long and happy life. And thus because of this he attained a great age and passed The Cloak of Invisibility to his son. *It is also possible that the moral is that one can not escape death, but only delay it, and that eventually, one must accept death in old age and "depart as equals" *In the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard that was released into the Muggle community, Dumbledore notes that the belief that possessing all three Hallows will give you power over death contradicts the story entirely. *There have been some speculations that the three brothers correspond to Harry Potter, Severus Snape, and Tom Riddle, with Harry corresponding to Ignotus (who lives to an old age), Severus corresponding to Cadmus (who dies for lost love), and Tom corresponding to Antioch (who dies for power). This also corresponds with the order of the ages of the brothers. An extension of this theory suggests that Albus Dumbledore corresponds to Death, the figure that all three brothers meet on their journey. When a user on Twitter asked J.K. Rowling what her favourite fan theory was, she responded with this one saying, "It's a beautiful theory and it fits." *Alternatively, it can be argued that Dumbledore is the third brother since he both greeted death voluntarily and handed the cloak to Harry as the story states that the 'father' gave the cloak to his 'son'. Father here being Dumbledore and Son being Harry. *Another possible interpretation may be that the role of Snape as Cadmus is replaced by Albus Dumbledore, whose death was caused by attempting to use the Stone, especially since ultimately it was his choice to end his life. * features a playable section based off this story. It features the three brothers walking down a road to a village and using the powers of their respective Hallows to progress past obstacles. At the end of the section, Death flies in and literally takes the three brothers away, with Ignotus only barely having time to pass the Cloak off to his son. *Quite a lot of fairy tales feature three brothers. The one commonly known as The Three Brothers concerns not about cheating death but which of three sons would inherit a house. *A short film adaptation of The Tale of the Three Brothers was produced by students of the with permission from Warner Bros. *''The Tale of the Three Brothers'' was featured as one of the Tales of Beedle the Bard performed by the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts as live entertainment in - Diagon Alley. It featured puppetry and props fabricated by Michael Curry (The Lion King on Broadway)* Entertainment and Interactive Experiences in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley Revealed Appearances * * * * * *''The Tale of the Three Brothers'' *Harry Potter: The Wand Collection (mentioned only) *''The Art of Harry Potter Mini Book of Graphic Design'' Notes and references de:Das Märchen von den drei Brüdern es:El Cuento de los Tres Hermanos es:El Cuento de los Tres Hermanos ru:Сказка о трёх братьях pl:Opowieść o trzech braciach fr:Le Conte des trois frères it:La Storia dei Tre Fratelli ja:三人兄弟の物語 fi:Tarina kolmesta veljeksestä nl:Het Verhaal van de Drie Gebroeders no:Historien om de tre brødrene pt-br:O Conto dos Três Irmãos Category:The Tales of Beedle the Bard